Dakota Access Pipeline Protest in S.F.: 'Keep It in the Ground'

Demonstrators sit on Market Street in San Francisco in front of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016. (Matt Beagle/KQED News)

Hundreds of protesters toting signs reading, "Keep It In The Ground," and chanting, "Water is sacred, water is life!" marched from San Francisco Civic Center Plaza down Market Street to the office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers early Tuesday in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The protest was one of many taking place nationwide in a coordinated day of action. The controversial pipeline, which has galvanized environmental and indigenous rights protesters, would bring crude oil from central North Dakota to Illinois. Its current route crosses the Missouri River near Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

On Monday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it needed additional information before deciding whether to allow construction of the pipeline along the proposed route, The Associated Press reported.

A protest over the Dakota Access Pipeline marches down Market Street in San Francisco on Nov. 15, 2016 (Matt Beagle/KQED News)

Isabella Zizi, of Idle No More SF Bay, who helped to organize the protest, said it was an attempt to influence the Obama administration to take action against the pipeline.

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“It's important that we here in the Bay Area are in solidarity with those out in Standing Rock,” she said.

Protesters met at City Hall before marching down Market Street and stopping in front of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers offices. (Matt Beagle/KQED News)

Protesters met at City Hall before marching down Market Street and stopping in front of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers offices. About a dozen protesters blocked the building entrance and dozens more sat in the street before the protest closed with a chanting circle.